Garment



H. M. PLEHN Dec. 26, 1950 GARMENT Filed Jan. 28, 1950 Patented Dec. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT. orr ca zssam GAB-HINT Henry M. Plelm, New York, N. Y. Application January 2:, 1950, Serial m.- 141,121:

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This invention relates to an undergarment for women and more particularly to a brassiere that will give the wearer a fuller, yet a firm and natural, bust contour.

Many women lack a natural full bust line that 'is desirable to properly fill out the dress fashions of today. It is therefore theprimary object of the present invention to provide a brassiere that is designed to enhance the female figure that has been somewhat neglected by nature. While the primary function of a brassiere is to support the breasts in a desirable position, both from the point of view of attractiveness and of comfort, such mere support is not sumcient if the contour of the breasts is neither firm nor natural. A formfitting brassiere will only conform to the contour of the actual busts and in those cases in which there is a lack of a natural full bust line the mere form fit is not sufficient. Various expedients to improve the bust supporting qualities of a brassiere have been heretofore attempted. but none 1 of them has sought the solution of the problem.

outside of the conventional bust fillers and artificial devices, of properly filling out the bust contour to simulate a natural full bust line. The present invention is designed to accomplish precisely this desirable result.

The designers of bust fillers and artificial devices heretofore used, have failed to appreciate the fundamental fact that even the smallest bust is slightly pendulous. Dueto the pull of gravity. a slight shaliowness is always created in the upper portion of the cup. Thus, the bust fillers and artificial devices heretofore in use haveprovided the same added fullness to the total breast area. A brassiere embodying the instant invention, however, overcomes this shallowness in the upper part of the bust by having built in extra added fullness above the horizontal median line.

The bust fillers and artificial devices heretofore used have also been objectionable in that their use has been attendant with physical inconvenience and discomfort, and psychological discomfort. The physical inconvenience in the actual wearing ofthese devices heretofore used has been that they have a tendency to slip and to otherwise cause embarrassing moments to the wearer; they also have a tendency to cause physical discomfort to the wearer due to the unnatural bulkiness. and for various other reasons. It is therefore the object of the present invention to overcome these physical inconveniences and discomforts by having added fullness built into a brassiere in the original manufacture. Moreover.

2 pletely does away with another phase of physical inconvenience that is associated with the use of the devices heretofore available, in that, a brassiere embodying the present invention may be washed, ironed, and reworn without the moonvenience of taking out and replacing any extra pieces.

It is the taking out and replacingof padding that creates the psychological discomfort in the wearer. The very fact that a woman must wear a padded brassiere creates some psychological discomfort. and it is important to note in this connection that a brassire embodying the present invention is not a padded garment but rather a built up garment. The added fullness is part of the construction of the cup itself; it is a cup within a cup. A woman has the same psychological objections to wearing the devices heretofore in use that she would have if it were necessary for her to wear false teeth at an early age.

The above objects of my novel structure may be accomplished by means of a construction in which a felt cloth cup is secured within the outer cup to the supporting structure for the cups, and a plurality of semicircular laminations of a felt cloth are secured between the inner and outer cup above the horizontal median line. This creates a firm yet flexible contour for the wearer in a 1 way that is impossible to cause embarrassment.

The brassiere thus creates an artificial contour. without the disadvantageof the artificiality being noticeable to either sight or touch.

Another object of this inventionis to give the wearer the added fullness along with the proper support in a garment that will be very comfortable to wear. The support given will be of the most desirable type since it will give support to the entire bust.

A brassiere embodying the present invention will also be adaptable to aid women who, while they do not need a bust pad, still do not have sufficient bust to fill out an average brassiere, thus enabling a flat chested or semi-fiat chested woman to achieve the natural contours so desirable to i the proper. fitting of styles and so much more atcific embodiment of the present inventio a brassiere embodying the present invention com- I the present invention;

accuses Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 on Fig. i;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-4 on Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged broken away view of the center of a cup of Fig. 1.

The brassire of Fig 1 consists of two breast pockets or cups 20 secured to body encircling bands II by the stitching ill. The body encircling bands H are stitched together at the center of the brassire at 13.. Below this line l3, along which the encircling bands are stitched together, the encircling bands I! diverge to form a V-shaped opening and an elastic member I is inserted into this opening joining the lower portions of the encircling bands H. The encircling hands it terminate on one side in hooks l5 and on the other side in an elastic strap ill on to which the eyes H are secured. Conventional shoulder straps I8 are provided.

The cups it comprise, in this particular embodiment of the invention, four layers. The outer layer l9 comprises 4 segments, Isa, I91), I80 and Hal secured together by lattice or fagoted stitching 20; these segments may be made of any fabric conventionally used in this class of garment and the outer layer may have the parallel rows of stitching 2i and may be formed as disclosed and claimed in my Patent No. 2,411,462 dated November 19, 1946.

The inner layer 23 of the cup I!) is made of felt laminated with tricot jersey and comprises segments 23a, 23b and 230 (and one not shown) stitched together by stitching 24. The inner layer 23 thus adds fullness and body to the cups and yet presents a smooth inner surface that will not irritate the skin of the wearer. The inner layer 23 is secured to the encircling band H by the same stitching I2 that is used to secure the outer layer 19130 the encircling band II.

The intermediate layers 25 and 2B are made of felt and are preferably made in two segments secured together by stitching along a substantially vertical median line corresponding with the of the lattice stitching 20. Thus, they lend to thecup added fullness only in the upper portion. The layer 25, although it does not extend from the top of the cup to the bottom, does extend fully from one side of the cup to the other side. The layer 28, however, does not extend fully from one side of the cup to the other. It is sewed on both sides to the layer 25 by stitching 21 at a point within the extreme side edges of the cup. The layer 25 thus not only contributes its share of the fullness to the cup solely above the horizontal median line but is also directed toward the center of the cup, All of the layers are secured together along the upper edge of the cup by stitching 28.

It is preferable to process the felt used in layers 23, 25 and 26 with a water repellant composition, so that they will not absorb too much water in washing. and cause the brassiere to take an abnormally long time to dry out after washing.

It can be appreciated from the above description that, in a brassire embodying the present invention, the filling is part of the cup itself and consists of a four layer cup with a cup construction.

vention as particularly applied to a brasslre, it is obvious that the novel structure herein disclosed may be applied with equally desirable results and effect to any garment in which there is incorporated a bust encircling element whether such element constitutes a brassiere or similar supporting structure. I have in mind particularly the utilization of my novel construction in such garments as bathing suits, sun suits, or for that matter a slip.

When in my claims I speak of a felt-like" body I mean not specifically a. body made of felt material but any such material which is made by a felting or matting process in which short fibers of any composition are felted or matted together. Examples of such material are felt, flannel and similar material in which short fibers are formed into a sheet material by a felting or matting together of such short fibers. In place of such felted material there may, of course, be utilized in the construction of my garment a plurality of sheets, one of which may not be of a woven material.

I claim:

1. A garment comprising a body encircling band and a pair of breast pockets, each of said breast pockets comprising a plurality of layers of nesting, cup-shaped, pro-formed soft, pliable. fabric material elements having a felt-like body. whereby the whole of the contour of each of such breast pockets is permanently and effectively maintained when the garment is in place upon the body of the wearer, and which breast pockets maintain their cup-shape and pliable, felt like body after repeated laundering of the garment in hot water.

2. A garment comprising a body encircling band and a pair of breast pockets, each of said breast pockets comprising a plurality of layers of nesting, cup-shaped, pre-formed, soft, pliable elements, at least one of said elements being of non-woven material whereby the whole of the contour of each of such breast pockets is permanently and eifectively maintained when the garment is in place upon the body of the wearer, and which breast pockets maintain their pliable cup-shape after repeated laundering of the garment in hot water.

3. Agarment as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of said' cup-shaped, pre-formed elements extends in the vertical direction from the top of the breast pocket to aline substantially coextensive with the horizontal median line of the breast pocket.

4. A garment as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least one of said cup-shaped, pre-formed, elements extends in the vertical direction from the top of the breast pocket to a line substantially co-extensive with the horizontal median line of the breast pocket.

5. A garment comprising a body encircling band and a pair of breast pockets each having at least one layer of soft, pliable fabric material having a felt-like body extending over the entire area of the breast pocket and at least one layer which covers substantially only one-half the area of the breast pocket, said last-mentioned layer extending in the vertical direction from the top of the breast pocket to a point substantially one-half way down on the breast pocket and in the horizontal direction from a point within one outer edge to a point within the other outer edge of said breast pocket.

6. A garment comprising a body encircling band and a pair of breast pockets, each of said breast pockets having an outer layer, and an inner layer, said inner layer and outerlayer both extending over the entire area of the breast pocket, an intermediate layer extending in the vertical direction from the top of said breast pocket to a line substantially coextensive with the horizontal median line of the breast pocket and extending in the horizontal direction from one side of the breast pocket to the other and a second intermediate layer extending in the vertical direction from the top of the breast pocket to a line substantially coextensivewith the hor izontal median line of the breast pocket and extending in the horizontal direction from a line within one side of the breast pocket to a line within the otherside of the breast pocket,

7. A garment as claimed in claim 6 in'which said second intermediate layer is secured along its vertical side edges to said first intermediate layer.

8. A garment comprising a body encircling band and a pair of breast pockets, each of said breast pockets having an outer layer, and an inner layer. said inner layer and outer layer both 6 extending over the entire area of the breast pocket, an intermediate layer extending in the vertical direction from the top of said breast pocket to a line substantially coextensive with the horizontal median line of the breast pocket and extending in the horizontal direction from one side of the breast pocket to the other.

HENRY M. PIEHN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,849,514 Edelmann Mar. 15,1932 2,191,545 Schneider Feb. 27, 1940 2,258,277 Bullinger Oct. 7, 1941 2,289,345 Craig et al July 14, 1942 2,304,989 Snowdon Dec. 15, 1942 2,333,434 Middlecoif Nov. 2, 1943 2,411,462 Plehn Nov. 19, 1946 2,460,715 Schoebel Feb. 1, 1949 2,462,295 Wittenberg Feb. 22, 1949 2,505,616 Goldberg Apr. 25, 1950 i 

